For years I've heard the advice to coat battery posts & terminals with Vaseline to prevent corrosion. I've never done it because it seems like the grease would act like an insulator and impede electrical conduction between the posts and terminals.
Do others who use it have any problems with conduction? If not, why do you think that's so?
It's good advice. The thing is, the grease is an insulator, but it's squeezed out by the contacts being forced together. Because the contacts are both soft lead, this is fairly easy.
And vaseline is a very good insulator.
No, it's fine. It's not as effective as a grease that has an actively reducing compound in it to prevent corrosion, but it's cheap and better than nothing.
--scott
I've never used it. And I have not had problems with terminal corrosion. My practice has been to put connectors on clean and tight, and to wipe down the battery and connectors with a clean dry rag when I do an oil change.
--Vic
Nope, it works great. I've also used silicone grease (AKA dielectric grease) and that works just as well.
nate
Water is, too...actually, water is an EXCELLENT insulator!
It's the impurities, such as metals and salts that are conductive in water. If you could get pure, clean water with no minerals, etc you could cool your computer with it like this:
N8N wrote in news:4a57b07a-8189-4619-bd85- snipped-for-privacy@s21g2000vbb.googlegroups.com:
Pretty much anything that keeps oxygen away from the terminals keeps corrosion away.
You could use spray white grease, Crisco, Cosmoline, bear fat, clarified butter, just about anything greasy.
While the vasoline MAY be squeezed out from within the connection, the normal way to apply it is AFTER the connection is made. That is, with the cable connected to the battery post, paint the vasoline around the connector, on all exposed lead and other metal.
Vasoline basically IS grease. It is just refined and cleaned up so you are willing to use it on your body.
BTW, if there is corrosion, neutralize the area with baking soda and clean up as thoroughly as possible before putting the vasoline on.
While I basically agree with this statement I always put it on before connecting the cable because I have lots of problems with corrosion and it helps to keep that down. If it is in any way reducing the conductivity I really can't tell. For me it works out better than to have corrosion build up between the connector and the terminal.
You might want to google around. I think you will find that isn't the typical instructions, that's why I asked.
"Ulysses" wrote in news:guhebu$peu$ snipped-for-privacy@news.motzarella.org:
I do this too. But then my cable connectors are aluminum, and have little barbs that bite into the battery post when they're tightened. Old-style lead clamps that are smooth on the inside may not provide enough "bite" to get through the grease film.
However, since the posts are tapered, it's possible the bottom of the lead clamp is wedged on firmly enough to make proper contact in spite of the grease.
Then your post-to-case seal is broken. This is usually due to some sort of mishandling or overtightening. Treat your battery with kindness and care, and ye shalt remain corrosion- free, forevermore.
Whenever I am not using my van, I take the battery out and I put it in my house.(too many of those ''spread the wealth'' people around here) I don't tighten the battery clamps, I twist ''tighten'' them on there.I have an old battery cable wire tied under the hood.When I remove my battery, I let that battery cable dangle out from under the hood.That makes it look like/seem like there is no battery in my van.Sometimes, I have to use a round wire brush to clean up the battery cables clamps and the battery terminals.I might try using some Vaseline and see if that helps. cuhulin
Give the man a trophy.. This is the best answer.
Actually, it plays little part in the equation. The contact will be made through the petroleum jelly by clean metal contact. Corrosive (oxidative) films can be far more efficient insulators than this layer of "grease".
That is one reason that capacitors can be made with HUGE capacitance values.
Like beating on it to make the car start?
Grease is good but it has a chances to reduce the charging power.whereas, Vaseline it won't it allows proper power to charge quickly.
Beating on a battery terminal can allow a car to start - if the problem is a poor terminal connection. I used to start my Ford Taurus by opening up th e hood and whacking on the box that housed the relays. They were all in a s ingle sealed box that didn't allow access to the relays. It one of the grea test idea Ford ever came up with! The fuel pump relay was kind of flakey. S ometimes you just got to kick car ass.
So what is "grease" that makes it different than "vaseline?"
--scott
, Vaseline it won't it allows proper power to charge quickly.
My guess is that any kind of grease would work on a battery terminal - even dielectric grease. The terminals usually get flakey because of corrosion b etween the contact areas. Anything that seals off those areas to air is a g ood thing. The most important thing is that the grease does not melt at the working temperatures.
You need grease that conducts electricity. I forget the 3-syllable word, but they sell little envelopes of it at autoparts store, just for electrical things.
I've never used anything on my battery posts and in 55 years I've never had corrosion. But I do use the red and green felt washers sold for batteries, they are great and afaict last for years.
But once I had a switch or something filled with grease at the factory, and if I rebuilt it, I replaced the grease with the stuff above.
I would think vaseline would be wet and runny when the weather is hot.
I had a '65 pontiac, almost new, and every time the lights were left on, the car wouldn't start until I reached under and pulled the cable at the starter motor a few degrees around the stud it was attached to. I got a buzzer that buzzed if the lights were left on and that stopped that problem.
And I had a convetible top motor for which I had to open the trunk and whack the motor with a wrench. As time went on it sometimes took 3 or more whacks, but once it started runnign it always ran fine until the top was up or down as the case may be. This went on for almost 2 years until I had to replace the brushes in the motor, but the brushes I bought, though the right size, had copper braid connectors that were much smaller than the original (they were meant for a smaller motor) so I wadded up a little piece of aluminum foil and put it between the brush housing and the spring behind each brush. That worked fine for years.
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